No Winter Classic Hangover for Caps

After winning the Winter Classic in spectacular fashion when Alex Ovechkin broke his stick and the puck squirted behind him to Troy Brouwer, who did a spin-o-rama  and knocked the puck past Blackhawks net minder Corey Crawford with 12 seconds left, there was no Winter Classic hangover for Caps today versus Florida. It got scary in the end when Florida made it 4-3 in regulation, but the Caps got two points they desperately needed and at home, a place where the Caps need to win more this season. This game was set up to be the ultimate let down after that great Winter Classic game, but the Caps showed focus which is different from how they've operated in the pre-Coach Barry Trotz era. The Trotz difference becomes more apparent every day.

The Caps enter 2015 with a 2-0 record, after a 8-2-3 record in December, and sit in 6th place in the Eastern Conference. Even with some glaring holes in player personnel down the middle, the Caps are winning.

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

Who are these Caps?

The Caps went ahead 3 games to 2 in the series against Boston today with a gritty, gutsy performance.  After giving up two goals at the end of the 2nd period to let Boston tie the game at 2-2, I worried that the Caps would fold mentally.  I'm a long-time Caps fan, that's why I think these things.  I like it when they prove me wrong like they did today.

Today's game belonged to the heart and soul guys.  Mike Knuble and Jay Beagle scored and Troy Brouwer blasted the game winner against Tim Thomas.  Beagle deserved his first playoff goal for his constant hustling throughout this series.  And, it was great to see Knuble pot one.  Alexander Semin also contributed the first goal while displaying his otherworldly puck handling skills.

Like many Caps fans, I had my doubts about Dale Hunter's system because it appeared to have neutered the offense for long stretches of time.  Watching his game management, line matching and overall strategy in this series against Boston though, I'm becoming a believer.  The Caps are playing competitive playoff hockey, unlike in years past, and they're pushing the defending Stanley Cup champions hard.  Stellar goal tending from the 22-year old rookie Braden Holtby has helped the cause, too.

Other highlights and things I'm happy to see:

• Alexander Semin appears to be one of the Caps that has benefitted most from Hunter's coaching.  The enigma is playing Selke winner like, blocking shots, making smart defensive plays and scoring three goals in the series.
• Braden Holtby is a stud in net.  He lets softies in here and there, but he also makes the big saves when needed.  He made a smashing rebound save while sliding into the splits near the goal post to stop a Boston shot today.  Holtby also plays with fire in his eyes for anyone that gets near his crease.  He's fun to watch.
• Karl Alzner and John Carlson are back together and playing stellar defense.  Carlson appears to have removed his head from his rear end, where it was stuck for most of the season.  And, GMGM needs to resign Alzner ASAP.
• Hunter sat Jeff Schultz in favor of rugged defenseman John Erskine who hadn't played since February.  Schultz withers under playoff pressure where Erskine gets under the skin of his opponents and keeps players out of the crease.  Boston hasn't been crowding Holtby's crease and taking shots at him since #4 has been in the line up.  He makes mistakes, at times, but I'd rather have him out there than Schultz to play against the larger and more aggressive Boston players.  
• Troy Brouwer is becoming one of my favorite Caps for his gritty playing.  He is, without a doubt, one of the best trades GMGM has made in the past few years. 
• Alex Ovechkin gets the toughest assignment, of course, trying to make space for offense while fending off the Bruins defenders Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. Ovie has 27 hits in 5 games and two of his hits against Seidenberg were featured in the Top 10 Playoff Hits review I saw today.  He has a goal, two assists and several blocked shots.  Ovie is playing a team game and that's what he needs to do.

I said I was numb to Caps playoff hockey in my last blog post.  I lied.  87 seconds left in the game today and my heart starts pounding.  Not to mention that I yelled at the TV when the Caps couldn't clear the defensive zone and starting giving up the neutral zone. 

Tomorrow is a huge game for the Caps.  Both teams look tired and they play another game 24-hours after the one today.  It's not going to be easy.  The team that can muster the most effort, after a grueling series, so far, will probably prevail.  I hope it's the Caps.

Let's go Caps!

p.s.  One of the things I'm not happy about - the awful officiating and inconsistent punishments being handed out during the playoffs.  The violence and shots to the head must be eliminated from the game, but that won't happen if the players don't understand what is, and isn't, a penalty.  When Shea Weber rubs out Henrik Zetterberg into the boards and gets fined $2500, but misses no games, and Nicklas Backstrom gets a 1-game suspension for a less egregious cross-check, there is something wrong. Those are just two examples. 

Subtle hockey qualities and Troy Brouwer

Plenty of hockey writers and bloggers use statistics to prove their point about this or that hockey player.  The problem with relying solely on statistics to evaluate a player is that it misses the subtle points of hockey that are just as, if not more, important to winning championships.  I'm talking about hitting, forechecking, parking your butt in front of the net and winning battles for the puck along the boards.  Things the Capitals have struggled with for years.

Troy Brouwer shows those qualities every time he's on the ice.  I started this post during the 1-0 win over Pittsburgh the other night when Brouwer had 11 hits!   Tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he's on fire.  Brouwer started by screening goalie Dwayne Roloson on Alex Ovechkin's power play goal.  Then, he scored his first goal.  On that one, he was to the side of the net and looked like he was going to pass.  Roloson thought so, too, as Brouwer five-holed him.  On his second goal, Brooks Laich snatched the puck out of the air from Mike Knuble's poke check behind the net and passed it to Brouwer who shot it into a wide open net.

And, he ended the game with an empty netter goal for his first official NHL hat trick.  Not so subtle tonight.  Congrats Troy!

The Caps need more gritty hockey players like Troy Brouwer.  Those type of players win the battles a team needs to survive the sixteen game slugfest that allows them to drink from a shiny silver chalice.  I'm enjoying watching Brouwer play.

Other Notes...

• Can the Caps PLEASE stop getting stupid, ridiculous delay of game penalties late in the third period that cost them a damn goal?   Roman Hamrlik cost them a goal with that penalty tonight.  Arghhhhh......
• I really don't want to watch Karl Alzner fight Steve Downie as I envision Alznar going out with a concussion.  But, I'm impressed by his passion and he got a couple of good shots on Downie.  Alzner continued jawing hard at Downie in the penalty box. 
• Congrats to Ovie and Dennis Wideman for their selection to the All Star game.  Wideman seems to be pumped from his all star selection as he had two assists tonight and was visible all over the ice.
• A friend of the Capsdreamer household recently witnessed Dale Hunter checking Jason Chimera into the boards at practice.  Have I mentioned that I love Dale?

So, the Caps managed to hang on for the win tonight, 4-3, but, I witnessed some ugly hockey during that third period. Caps have two more games against teams on the 2nd night of back-to-back games.  Four more must win points.

Carolina is next.

Let's go Caps!

Confidence

The Caps need confidence desperately. Hopefully, their 5-3 win in Ottawa will give them some of it back.  They scored on a power play, finally, after blowing a 5 on 3.  Alex Ovechkin scored a goal after turning away from the d-man, stopping in an instant, sending ice shavings into the air, and lifting a wrist shot past Craig Anderson.  Troy Brouwer scored 15-seconds later on a pretty pass from Marcus Johansson.  Brouwer got the Gordie Howe hat trick tonight - a goal, an assist and a fight (nice fight for Brouwer, too).  And, the Caps survived a late third period penalty to Joel Ward, after giving up a goal on an Alexander Semin hooking penalty.

There were times during this game that I still yelled at the TV and threw things around my room, like the hooking penalty to Semin and the goal five seconds later or the John Erskin/Tomas Vokoun out of position Ottawa goal.  But, this team appears to be getting better in the Dale Hunter era and, I guess, for right now, that's good enough.  It's either that or give up on this team and I'm not ready to do that yet.  Hunter hasn't had enough time.

Hunter's nine day era hasn't been easy. Caps lost two 2-1 games to St Louis and Pittsburgh, lost to Florida 5-4 (an ugly game), beat Ottawa 3-2 in OT and beat Ottawa tonight 5-2.  The Caps confidence has been visibly missing for a while and neither goalie is playing well enough to bail out the team, although Tomas Vokoun played a strong game in net tonight. But, there have been encouraging signs that the Caps are starting to turning things around like:

• Ovie played a monster game tonight and is playing inspired hockey again.  Hunter's increasing Ovie's minutes and it's helping.  Ovie's getting more chances and more shots.  An added bonus is seeing Ovie pressuring in the d-zone.  That's never happened.
• Hunter is implementing a 1-2-2 trap type system to cut down on goals against and it has done that, although Florida nailed the Caps for five goals.  The Caps are playing much more structured and disciplined hockey, in general, including using shorter passes in their transition game.  Those cross-ice, fifty-foot passes have mostly led to the puck going back to the d-zone so I'm happy to see less of those.
• Jeff Schultz only played 3:55 because "he didn't fit the game," according to Hunter.  Hmmm, they were down a goal in the 3rd period and Hunter wanted his offensive d-men out there.  John Erskine wasn't out there either.  Interesting...
• Although they don't consistently play sixty minutes of hockey yet, see first period against Florida and various times tonight, they're still playing more aggressively, winning puck battles, hustling, and hitting.

There is still a lot of work to do.  The Caps power play connected once tonight, but it's still dreadful.  The power play has sucked since before the 2010 Montreal playoff series so why is the power play coach, Dean Evason, still here when the other coaches are gone?  That's a mystery to me.

Toronto comes to town on Friday.

Let's go Caps!